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Israelis Firmly Behind Gaza Operation as Military Losses Mount
(Christian Science Monitor) Christa Case Bryant - Israel has lost 29 soldiers just four days into the Gaza ground operation, making this the deadliest fighting for the Israeli military since 2006. But despite the casualties and nationally shared grief, Israel shows no sign of letting up in Gaza. Soldiers and civilians alike resist giving in to one's enemies, on the principle that doing so invites worse calamities down the line. For now at least, Israelis are not faltering in their support for an operation the government says was necessary after it exhausted all other options to crush Hamas' offensive capabilities. "After the initial shock and trauma, you have a resilience," says Prof. Yehuda Ben Meir, director of the National Security and Public Opinion project at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. Col. Shaul Shay (res.), who served on the National Security Council during the 2009 Gaza war, says, "The government in this case has very high support of the public, because it's quite clear that the government did almost everything to prevent this conflict."